Sunday, May 5, 2013

Nicaragua cloud forest 'under siege' by illegal loggers

Matt McGrath in the BBC: A famed rainforest in Nicaragua is under growing threat from illegal loggers, say indigenous leaders. The Bosawas Biosphere Reserve is Central America's largest tropical forest with clouds constantly drifting over the hilly terrain.

But the Mayangna and Miskito people who live there say 30,000 hectares a year are being deforested by "colonists". They are calling on US president Barack Obama, who is visiting the region, to support their battle.

Described by the United Nations as a global biological treasure, the reserve is located on the border between Nicaragua and Honduras and teems with wildlife. The two million hectares are said to be home to 150,000 insect species, rare jaguars, eagles and crocodiles as well as the world's last populations of Baird's Tapir and the Central American Spider Monkey.

The Bosawas reserve also overlaps the homes of indigenous communities who have been there for centuries, living by hunting and fishing. The Nicaraguan government recognised the full legal title of the Mayangna to their lands in 2007. Since then, they say they have been subject to what they term an "invasion" by landless people from other parts of the country. They claim to have documented 11,500 "colonists" who have deforested around 150,000 hectares since 2009....

June 2009 – At the studios of Cleanskies TV, I was interviewed about the costs of climate change, and discussed adaptation efforts underway in the US and around the world.

May 2009 – I helped draft the scenarios for Rising Waters, a multistakeholder scenarios effort focused on climate change adaptation in the Hudson Valley. The final report is now completed and available here.

May 2008 – I reviewed two books on climate and energy in the New Leader magazine: James Gustave Speth's The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability, plus Robert Bryce's Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of Energy Independence.

January 2008 – A very local paper covers a very global issue.... The Litchfield County Times in northwestern Connectictut ran an article in January 2008 about Carbon-Based.

Now available: Climate Change Adaptation in 2011

A selection of my writings from 2011, plus some of my posts, as well as links... all focusing on the risks of climate change